Sources of Fantasy奇幻之源

譯/黃灝揚審訂/辛勤

Though the fantasy genre in its modern sense is less than two centuries old, its sources have a long and distinguished history. Elements of the supernatural and the fantastic were an element of literature from its beginning.

Ancient Near East1

TheEpic of Gilgameshwas written over generations following the supposed reign of King Gilgamesh, and is seen as a mythologized version of his life. This figure is sometimes an influence and, more rarely, a figure in modern fantasy.

Ancient India

India has a long tradition of fantastical stories and characters, dating back to Vedic mythology. Several modern fantasy works such asRG Veda2指日本漫畫團體CLAMP創(chuàng)作的幻想少女漫畫《圣傳》，以古印度神話為背景，人物原型取自印度神話《梨俱吠陀》等經(jīng)典。draw on theRig-Vedaas a source. Hindu mythology was an evolution of the earlier Vedic mythology and had many more fantastical stories and characters,particularly in the Indian epics, such as theMahabharataby Vyasa, and theRamayanaby Valmiki, both of which were influential in Asia.ThePanchatantra(Fables of Bidpai)was in fluential in Europe and the Middle East. It used various animal fables and magical tales to illustrate the central Indian principles of political science.Talking animals endowed with human qualities have now become a staple of modern fantasy.

Greco-Roman

Classical mythology is replete with fantastical stories and characters, the best known (and perhaps the most relevant to modern fantasy) being the works of Homer. The philosophy of Plato has had great in fluence on the fantasy genre. In the Christian-Platonic tradition, the reality of other worlds,and an overarching structure of great metaphysical and moral importance, has lent substance to the fantasy worlds of modern works.

East Asia

The figures of Chinese dragons were influential on the modern fantasy use of the dragon, tempering the greedy,thoroughly evil, even diabolical Western dragon; many modern fantasy dragons are humane and wise. Chinese traditions have been particularly in fluential in the vein of fantasy known as Chinoiserie, including such writers as Ernest Bramah and Barry Hughart. Taoist beliefs about neijing and its influence on martial arts have been a major influence on wuxia, a subgenre of the martial arts film that is sometimes fantasy, when the practice of wuxia is used fictitiously to achieve super-human feats, as inCrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Islamic Middle East

The most well known fiction from the Islamic world wasThe Book of One Thousand and One Nights(Arabian Nights), which was a compilation of many ancient and medieval folk tales.This epic has been in fluential in the West since it was translated in the 18th century,first by Antoine Galland. Many imitations were written, especially in France. Various characters from this epic have themselves become cultural icons in Western culture,such as Aladdin, Sinbad and Ali Baba.A number of elements from Persian and Arabian mythology are now common in modern fantasy, such as genies, bahamuts3通譯為巴哈姆特，是阿拉伯神話中的重要形象，外形似一條巨大的魚，背上支撐著大地。, magic carpets, magic lamps, etc.

Medieval Europe

Medieval European sources of fantasy occurred primarily in epic poetry and in the Fornaldarsagas4字面意義是“過去時代的故事”，又被稱為legendary saga，是一種出現(xiàn)于歐洲人定居冰島之前的挪威薩迦，比后來13世紀的薩迦時間更早，因此譯為“古代薩迦”。, Norse and Icelandic sagas5saga通譯為“薩迦”，原意是“言語，敘述”，后特指13世紀前后由冰島人或挪威人記載的民間故事，主要記載了北歐的歷史與傳說。, both of which are based on ancient oral tradition. The in fluence of these works on the German Romantics and J. R. R. Tolkien means that their in fluence on later fantasy has been large.

Anglo-Saxon

Beowulfis among the best known of the Nordic tales in the English speaking world, and has had deep in fluence on the fantasy genre; although it was unknown for centuries and so not developed in medieval legend and romance, several fantasy works have retold the tale, such as John Gardner’sGrendel.

Norse

Norse mythology, as found in theElder Eddaand theYounger Edda,includes such figures as Odin and his fellow Aesir, and dwarves, elves, dragons,and giants. These elements have been directly imported into various fantasy works, and have deeply in fluenced others,both on their own and through their in fluence on Nordic sagas, Romanticism,and early fantasy writers.

Celtic

Celtic folklore and legend has been an inspiration for many fantasy works.The separate folklore of Ireland, Wales,and Scotland has sometimes been used indiscriminately for “Celtic” fantasy,sometimes with great effect; other writers have distinguished to use a single source.

Finnish

The Finnish epic, theKalevala,although not published until the 19th century, is compiled from oral tradition dating back to an earlier period. J. R.R. Tolkien cited it, with the Finnish language he learned from it, as a major inspiration behind theSilmarillion.

Renaissance

During the Renaissance, Giovanni Francesco Straparola wrote and publishedThe Facetious Nights of Straparola, a collection of stories,many of which are literary fairy tales. Giambattista Basile wrote and published thePentamerone, a collection of literary fairy tales, the first collection of stories to contain solely the stories later to be known as fairy tales. Both of these works includes the oldest recorded form of many well-known (and more obscure) European fairy tales. This was the beginning of a tradition that would both influence the fantasy genre and be incorporated in it, as many works of fairytale fantasy appear to this day.Although witchcraft and wizardry were both believed to be actual at the time,such motifs as the fairies in William Shakespeare’sA Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Weird Sisters inMacbethand Prospero inThe Tempestwould be deeply in fluential on later works of fantasy.

Romanticism

Romanticism, a movement of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, was a dramatic reaction to Rationalism, challenging the priority of reason and promoting the importance of imagination and spirituality. Its success in rehabilitating imagination was of fundamental importance to the evolution of fantasy, and its interest in medieval romances providing many motifs to modern fantasy. In the later part of the Romantic tradition, in reaction to the spirit of the Enlightenment,folklorists collected folktales, epic poems, and ballads, and brought them out in printed form. The Brothers Grimm were inspired in their collection,Grimm’s Fairy Tales, by the movement of German Romanticism. Many other collectors were inspired by the Grimms and the similar sentiments. Frequently their motives stemmed not merely from Romanticism, but from Romantic nationalism, in that many were inspired to save their own country’s folklore.These works, whether fairy tale, ballads,or folk epics, were a major source for later fantasy works.

雖然現(xiàn)代意義的奇幻小說出現(xiàn)不到兩個世紀，其源頭卻有著悠久而卓越的歷史。超自然與奇幻的元素自文學之初便是其要素之一。

古代近東地區(qū)

《吉爾伽美什史詩》的創(chuàng)作延續(xù)了幾代人，記述了傳說中吉爾伽美什國王的統(tǒng)治，這部史詩被認為是這位國王生平的神化版。這個人物在現(xiàn)代奇幻小說中有時依然具有影響力，極個別情況下還成為小說角色之一。

古印度

印度有著悠久的奇幻故事與人物傳統(tǒng)，可追溯至吠陀神話。一些現(xiàn)代奇幻文學，例如《圣傳》，便是從《梨俱吠陀》吸取的養(yǎng)分。印度神話是從早期吠陀神話演變而來，有更多的奇幻故事和人物，特別是印度史詩，例如毗耶娑的《摩訶婆羅多》、跋彌的《摩羅衍那》，這兩部作品在亞洲很有影響力。而《五卷書》（即《比德帕伊寓言》）則在歐洲和中東地區(qū)影響廣泛。這部作品采用各種動物寓言和魔法故事來闡述印度政治學的核心準則。擬人的會說話動物已經(jīng)成為現(xiàn)代奇幻小說的常見元素。

希臘—羅馬

古典神話充滿了奇幻故事與人物，最為著名的（可能也是與現(xiàn)代奇幻小說關(guān)系最密切的）要數(shù)荷馬史詩。柏拉圖哲學也對奇幻小說產(chǎn)生了巨大的影響?；浇?柏拉圖主義傳統(tǒng)中，彼岸世界的真實性，以及形而上學與道德意義深厚的主體架構(gòu)，為現(xiàn)代作品中的奇幻世界提供了靈感。

東亞

中國龍的形象影響了現(xiàn)代奇幻小說中對龍的描繪，調(diào)和了西方龍那種貪婪、邪惡透頂甚至如惡魔般的形象；許多現(xiàn)代奇幻小說中的龍都仁慈而智慧。中國傳統(tǒng)還對奇幻小說中的中國風一脈產(chǎn)生了獨特的影響，包括恩尼斯·布拉瑪和巴里·胡格哈特等作家。道教對《內(nèi)經(jīng)》的信仰以及它對武術(shù)的影響，一直是武俠故事的重要來源，而武俠作為武術(shù)電影的亞種，在被虛構(gòu)來敘述超人的壯舉時就屬于奇幻了，比如電影《臥虎藏龍》。

中東伊斯蘭地區(qū)

伊斯蘭世界最為著名的虛構(gòu)作品是《一千零一夜》（即《天方夜譚》），是對古代與中世紀許多民間故事的匯編。這部作品在18世紀被安托萬·加朗首次翻譯到西方，從此便一直具有影響力。有許多仿作出現(xiàn)，特別是在法國。這部作品中的各種角色本身已經(jīng)成為西方文化中的文化偶像，比如阿拉丁、辛巴達和阿里巴巴。波斯神話與阿拉伯神話的許多元素如今在現(xiàn)代奇幻小說中十分常見，例如精靈、巴哈姆特、魔毯、神燈，等等。

中世紀歐洲

奇幻小說的中世紀歐洲源頭主要是史詩和古代薩迦（即挪威和冰島的薩迦），這兩者都根植于古老的口述傳統(tǒng)。這些作品影響了德國浪漫主義和J.R.R.托爾金，意味著它們對后來的奇幻小說的影響力不容小覷。

盎格魯—撒克遜

《貝奧武甫》是英語世界最知名的北歐傳奇之一，對奇幻小說有著深遠的影響；雖然這部作品幾個世紀都默默無聞，沒有在中世紀傳說和傳奇故事中取得發(fā)展，但是不少奇幻作品翻新了這部傳說，例如約翰·加德納的《格倫德爾》。

挪威

《老埃達》與《新埃達》中的挪威神話囊括了諸如奧丁和他的阿薩神族，以及侏儒族、精靈族、龍族和巨人族等角色。這些元素被直接引入各種奇幻作品，并且深深影響了其他作品，既有它們自身的直接影響，也有北歐薩迦、浪漫主義以及早期奇幻小說作家的間接影響。

凱爾特

凱爾特的民間文學和傳奇故事一直是許多奇幻作品的靈感來源。愛爾蘭、威爾士和蘇格蘭各自獨立的民間故事有時候被不加區(qū)別地稱為“凱爾特”奇幻文學，有時這種叫法很有效力；有些作者則區(qū)別采用獨立的源頭。

芬蘭

雖然芬蘭史詩《英雄國》（亦稱《凱萊維拉》）直到19世紀才正式出版，但它所匯編的口述傳統(tǒng)故事可追溯到更早的時期。J.R.R.托爾金從這部作品中學習了芬蘭語，因而將其視為《精靈寶鉆》的一大靈感來源。

文藝復(fù)興

在文藝復(fù)興期間，喬萬尼·弗朗切斯科·斯特拉帕羅拉編寫出版了故事集《愉快的夜晚》，其中有許多文學童話。吉姆巴地斯達·巴西耳編寫出版了童話集《五日談》，這是第一本收錄的全部是童話的故事集。許多著名（以及更多無名）的歐洲童話最早就記載在這兩部作品中。這開創(chuàng)了一種傳統(tǒng)，這種傳統(tǒng)后來影響了奇幻小說，也被奇幻小說所吸納，正如今天面世的許多童話奇幻作品。雖然巫術(shù)與魔法那時都被當成真實存在的，但像威廉·莎士比亞《仲夏夜之夢》中的仙女們、《麥克白》中的女巫三姐妹以及《暴風雨》中的普洛斯彼羅這些魔法主題對后來的奇幻作品都會產(chǎn)生深遠影響。

浪漫主義

18世紀末至19世紀初的浪漫主義運動是一場對理性主義的劇烈反抗，挑戰(zhàn)了理性的主導(dǎo)地位，提高了想象與靈性的重要性。它在復(fù)興想象力方面取得的成功，成為奇幻文學演進的重要基礎(chǔ)，而它對中世紀傳奇的關(guān)注則為現(xiàn)代奇幻小說提供了諸多主題。在浪漫主義傳統(tǒng)的后期，民俗學家收集了民間故事、史詩與民歌，并將它們出版成冊，以此作為對啟蒙精神的回應(yīng)。受到德國浪漫主義運動的啟發(fā)，格林兄弟編撰了故事集《格林童話》。其他許多收集者也被格林兄弟以及同樣的情感所激勵。他們的動機常常不只源于浪漫主義，更是源于浪漫民族主義，這種民族主義激勵許多人去保存自己國家的民間文學。這些作品，無論是童話、民歌還是民間史詩，都構(gòu)成了后世奇幻小說的重要源頭。 □

（譯者單位：復(fù)旦大學奇境譯坊）